” Nearly 7 in 10 Americans are angry at the direction the country is headed and 53% of Americans disapprove of President Barack Obama’s job performance, two troubling signs for Democrats one week before the midterm elections, a new CNN/ORC International Poll shows.

Democrats are battling to try and save the Senate majority, while hoping to prevent more losses in the House, which the GOP controls by a 234 to 201 margin.

In the Senate, Republicans need a net gain of six seats, and several state polls in the past month of contested races show that Democrats are in danger of losing control of the majority, and thus Congress. Currently, Democrats control the Senate by a 55-45 margin with two of those seats held by independents that align themselves politically with Democrats.

The CNN/ORC poll shows that 30% of Americans are “very angry” and 38% are “somewhat angry” about the way things are going in the country, while 31% expressed “no anger” at all. CNN Polling Director Keating Holland notes the 31% of “very angry” Americans matches the mood of the country in 2010 when Republicans took back control of the House. “

” With two months until mid-term congressional elections, President Barack Obama’s Democrats face increasingly long odds of maintaining control of the US Senate. Republicans must gain six seats to take over, and many analysts say that goal is within reach.

Far more Democrats are up for re-election than Republicans this cycle, including four struggling to keep their seats in crucial swing states that Obama lost when he was re-elected in 2012.

But Republicans are hardly united in their tactics, as evidenced by pressure from core conservatives threatening a government shutdown over immigration policy — tactics experts warn could backfire.

Nevertheless, the wind is at Republicans’ backs in this mid-term election, which traditionally favors the opposition party in year six of a presidency, as this is.

Republicans are predicted to maintain control of the House of Representatives, where all 435 seats are being contested. Democrats are struggling to hang on in the 100-member Senate, where 36 seats are up for grabs.

Below is a list of key Senate races in November’s election and issues to watch as the parties battle for congressional supremacy. “

” Get ready to meet the next generation of conservative political action committees.

Super PACs like Club for Growth Action and Senate Conservatives Action might be the grown-ups dominating the headlines today, giving the GOP establishment a headache and driving Republican Party squabbles. But now, a libertarian youth group is hoping to get in the midterm election game, attract a new generation of donors and contribute to the cause.

Young Americans for Liberty’s political action committee – Liberty Action Fund – bills itself as a youth-driven, grass-roots machine ready to harness enthusiasm for former Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, and leverage it into support for constitutionally focused and libertarian-minded congressional candidates. The PAC is an offshoot of Young Americans for Liberty, a libertarian youth organization with 500 chapters and more than 125,000 participants, according to the YAL website.”

This is a very encouraging development . The youth of America did not all OD on the Koolaid …

” “We are just getting started,” says Jeff Frazee , Young Americans for Liberty’s executive director. “Our hope is to raise between $10,000 and $50,000 per candidate.”

While the group has many donors who give less than $200 in contributions, more than half of the money the group has raised – $10,000 this election cycle – has come from one couple, Cyan and Scott Banister. The Banisters are entrepreneurs and “angel donors” known for their ties to companies like PayPal and IronPort Systems, the latter of which Scott Banister co-founded and then sold to Cisco Systems for $830 million in 2007.

In recent years, the Banisters also have become synonymous with Zivity, an adult photography and networking site they co-founded. The site is “a community of models, photographers and their fans,” the website reads. “Whether it’s erotic, artistic, fantasy, or documentary, fans can show their support by voting on sets, which gives money back to those artists.” “

” Nancy Pelosi, the top Democrat in the Republican-controlled House, dismissed growing concerns that the political damage from the botched implementation of the healthcare act could harm her party’s hopes of taking over the majority in next year’s midterm congressional elections. Those chances had grown in the wake of last month’s government shutdown, which most Americans blamed on congressional Republicans.

But the political winds shifted sharply against Democrats in recent weeks as the Obama administration grappled with massive problems in signing up people on the new healthcare exchanges designed to expand medical coverage to millions of Americans. The troubles were further compounded when insurers began cancelling existing plans that were substandard under the healthcare act, contradicting claims by Mr Obama and many Democrats that people could keep their plans if they liked them.”

We would like to know if Ms Pelosi has read the bill yet .

Some of her colleagues obviously have . Below are some links that will give the reader some idea of the daunting task M Pelosi faces in trying to get her Democratic compatriots to “Stand Tall” on their “signature legislation” . Good luck Nancy .